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Opinion: Free Press to close its doors, final edition to print on October 16th

Ben Rogers
Free Press General Manager
brogers@gjfreepress.com

This will be the second to last edition of the Grand Junction Free Press.

The decision did not come easily. For more than a decade The Free Press has provided a great service to the Grand Valley. The newspaper opened its doors in 2003 seeking to provide the community with not just an alternative news source, but a vehicle to focus on the positives of our community.

The goal has always been for the Free Press to represent the spirit of the community, to publish stories and columns that provide insight into people and institutions that make the Grand Valley unique. From the gadfly who upsets the status quo, from the well-to-do to the down-and-out, from the well-known to the unknown, from the young to the old, we sought to be your community paper telling the stories of real people. From a community perspective, I would say we hit the mark.



But, when we looked at the Free Press as a business and focused on our company’s long-term strategy, we recognized growth opportunities were limited. Our company looks for opportunities where we can make the biggest possible difference in the community.

In the Grand Valley we are well served by the many media companies who are accurately and fairly covering news and events — many not in place when the newspaper was founded by Ken Johnson and his partners in 2003. The original mandate was to fill a void in coverage of our community. During the last 10 years many have stepped up and are providing high quality, and meaningful, coverage. Because of this we have decided that now is the time to shift our focus.



Colorado Mountain News Media will be keeping our office in Grand Junction. This office will be home to Wheels and Deals, our twice-monthly automotive publication and it will house marketing and tech support team members.

This decision was very challenging for me personally. I love the Free Press and love the Grand Valley. This has been a great stop along the way and one of my favorite places to live and work. A great community in a beautiful setting that warmly welcomed my wife and I, we couldn’t have asked for more.

What does this mean for our readers? For now, it means that we will be saying goodbye. Next week will be our final edition. That edition will feature stories and content celebrating the past 12 years.

For our advertisers and business partners we want to thank you for your support and wish all of you the best of luck. While the Free Press will cease publishing, we will continue to promote our digital solutions as well as many of our other marketing tools that we will retain in the market and across the state.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to me at brogers@gjfreepress.com. Also, if you have a fond memory of the Free Press that you would like to share please send me an email and we’ll try to include it in the final edition of the paper.


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